Big Ben keeps up with time, at 150

LONDON -- Defiantly low-tech yet accurate to the second, Big Ben is having its 150th birthday today, its Victorian chimes carrying the sound of Britain into the 21st century.

LONDON -- Defiantly low-tech yet accurate to the second, Big Ben is having its 150th birthday today, its Victorian chimes carrying the sound of Britain into the 21st century.

It's a birthday the world can share in. The peals of London's favorite clock are carried globally by BBC radio, and its 315-foot tower, roughly 16 stories, is the city's most famous landmark.

But getting inside and seeing Big Ben, the sonorous main bell that gives its name to the whole contraption, isn't easy. Security measures mean that few are granted admission, and there's no elevator, so those who are escorted in must climb 334 winding limestone stairs.

Catherine Moss, who took journalists on a pre-anniversary tour, said that in one year as a Big Ben guide, she had climbed the height of Mount Everest three times.

"It's my own private step machine," the trim-looking 51-year-old called down from the top of the tower.

No special events are planned, aside from an exhibition that opens Sept. 19 in the nearby parliamentary offices.

The 14-foot minute hand casts a faint shadow over the pale white glass of the dial. The 5.6-ton clock mechanism, like a giant wristwatch, is wound three times a week. In the age of atomic clocks, its near-perfect time is regulated by heavy old pennies laid on or removed from the pendulum.

The chimes, supposedly based on four notes from Handel's Messiah, ring out every quarter-hour from the intricately ornamented belfry. The bongs of Big Ben itself are heard every hour.

The clock and tower got off to a bad start. Construction was marred by delays, budget overruns and bureaucratic squabbling. The tower proved too small for the clock machinery. The 18.2-ton copper and tin main bell had to be scrapped when it cracked during testing. It was forged anew, slimmed down and painstakingly hoisted to the top of the tower.